Swedish cartoonist target of foiled attack

A Swedish cartoonist who has received death threats for depicting the Prophet Mohammed as a dog was the target of a planned attack in Gothenburg earlier this month, according to reports.

Cartoonist Lars VilksPhoto: EPA

1:35PM BST 21 Sep 2011

The daily Metro said it had obtained classified documents that showed the prosecutor believes three men arrested on September 10 had planned to kill cartoonist Lars Vilks.

The Swedish prosecutor's office refused to comment on the report.

An elite counter-terrorism unit arrested four people in Gothenburg and shortly afterward evacuated hundreds of people from a building hosting an art fair "after concluding that there was a threat that could endanger lives or health or cause serious damage."

Vilks had initially said on his blog that he would attend the art fair though he did not in the end.

One of the suspects had bought a pocketknife to be used in the attack, and one of the men had asked for Vilks at the art fair, according to Metro.

Vilks told Swedish news agency TT he had been unaware of that information, but said he had cancelled an forthcoming appearance at the Gothenburg book fair on Friday.

"I heard that information on TV this morning. I have not received that information personally," he said.

Police initially said the four were suspected of plotting a terrorist attack, but when the prosecutor asked the court to remand them in custody it was on suspicion of planning a murder.

The court remanded three of the men in custody, and released the fourth. They have yet to be charged. Three are Swedish citizens while another holds a Swedish residency permit.

Earlier press reports have linked the men to the Somali Islamist movement Shebab, though officials have not confirmed those claims.

Vilks has faced numerous death threats and a suspected assassination plot since his cartoon was first published by a Swedish regional newspaper in 2007, illustrating an editorial on the importance of freedom of expression.